Conference was buzzing from start to finish and I imagine a lot of us will be reflecting on what we saw, heard and discussed over the next few days.

The results of the recent Local Government elections meant many of us arrived feeling positive – positive about what the results said about what New Zealanders do and do not want and positive about the platform this provides for the General Election. The Len Brown campaign showed that people respond to messages of fairness and inclusion and most importantly to clear and bold policy platforms.

Our conference was about Labour profiling the work that has been happening since the last election – the listening, consulting, debating and thinking about what we put before the people next year. Conference included policy workshops, new thinking sessions that included speakers from outside of Labour and key note speeches that all were all exciting, challenging and forward looking. And most importantly the framework of a BOLD programme to provide real choice to New Zealanders.

Underlying the work is putting the needs of people first – not some people but all of us. We cannot be successful on the back of poverty, of lack of opportunity and not investing in people. Annette’s speech the importance of placing children at the centre of our policy – we cannot be successful if children live in poverty, in fear, without adequate food and shelter and without quality health and education services and without a loving family. Phil’s speech emphasised improving opportunities for all New Zealanders. He emphasised the need for fundamental changes to deliver a stronger economy where all of us share in the rewards. We need to be focused on increasing exports and employment, we need to protect our assets, invest in education and research and development, control monopolies and lift the incomes of New Zealanders. Unfair, unequal countries cost everyone, not just those at the bottom.

National’s policies are making it harder for most New Zealanders, inequality is growing.

Next year the choice for New Zealanders will be very clear. Several hundred of us left conference today motivated about putting Labour’s vision in front of New Zelanders.

Good example of MPs giving much better coverage than could possibly happen thru MSM. Unmediated is gr8.

Quick count 22 posts from 11 MPs. Range from light – thanks Lianne you will keep – to a couple which go to the core of our electoral system. Maybe next time we should try and do a bit of a roster to get a better cover of remit, fringe and organisational workshops. We do need to get some consistent formating for speeches to aid posting for beginners.

I didn’t think that I would be saying how inspired I was listening to Monsignor David Cappo at one of the Critical Thinking Debates at the Conference today, although his Order of Australia badge should have been a clue. I wasn’t even going to his session, until someone told me how good he had been in the morning.

The South Australian Commissioner for Social Inclusion is not like other Commissioners – describing his Social Inclusion Board as embedded in, but not part of, government – an independent body at the heart of government. I am going to blog on this again once I have done some more research , because I just took notes – but here are some themes that emerged for me…a new form of engagement with citizens; consultation replaced with active listening; consensus building; seeking solutions from those directly involved, not restatement of the problem; collection of data (independent analysis undertaken); world-wide network of researchers and policy makers informing thinking; recommendations based on evidence-based research; plans developed & costed; accountability for delivery; ongoing monitoring, auditing and evaulation…and this all leads to joined up solutions that are effective. This probably doesn’t sound new – and that’s because talking about it isn’t new – we talk about it a lot. Today convinced me that it can be done!

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These are the voices of Labour MPs on issues that we care about - and we'd like to hear what you think too. What you’ll read are the individual opinions of MPs. We won’t always agree with each other and sometimes our opinions may change.